tracers

[Noir]

I keep them on, for the sake of scaring the cons off my m8tes 6. I often change my ride model also, which doesn't help getting used to no tracers.

[SlapShot]

I never found a need to turn them off ... 

[hubsonfire]

I never found a need to turn them off ... 

That's because toolsheds don't try to evade!

[Noir]

I never found a need to turn them off ... 

Well it adds a surprise factor. If your target starts to evade your lack of tracers can turn against you.

[Patches1]

In my opinion, it's 50-50...just your preference.

Mine are always on, but my convergence is set close so when I hit, I hit hard. I seldom take the shot over 400 yds, with 400 yds being my MAXIMUM firing solution against fighters. So, for me, tracers off makes little difference. An old squaddies once said to me, "Get close and it doesn't matter if they're on or off...they're [the opponent] going to die anyway."

[Adonai]

I've had tracers on and off, I leave my tracers off just simply I adapted to where my guns are aimed and know where they are going to hit.

No problems hitting targets 4/600 yards away. Yes I use more ammo, and accuracy decreases, but kill count is still as high as Tracers on.

IMO - Choose what you like.

[A8Hunter]

Turned my tracers back on and scared the bejezzus outa me when I squeezed the trigger. Really takes getting USE to tracers after they been off for a while. But the gunnery ability was infinately better. Course that ain't saying much but for what it's worth............

[mtnman]

I've never subscribed to the "turn your tracers off to improve your gunnery" idea.  Sure, once you've learned to hit consistantly it may not matter whether you have them on or off, and I suppose I could gain 2-3 kills per month if I turned them off for "stealth" purposes.  Honestly though, when I shoot at someone I simply don't care whether they know I'm shooting or not...

But for someone trying to actually improve on their hit% I think the tracers are too important to turn them off.  

With them on, you can miss your target and see "ah, I missed behind him, I need to lead more the next time I have a shot like that..."  

With them off, you miss your target and see "ah, I missed him!  Next time I'll aim higher or lower, or lead him more or lead him less or lead him more and aim higher or lead him more and aim lower... and I might actually pick the right option and actually hit him!" Or "Maybe I did everything right, but my convergence is wrong?" Or "Maybe the only people in the game who can make a shot like that are using an Aimbot?"

With tracers on it's easy to see consistant errors (Drat! I ALWAYS miss behind my target!) and adjust to correct the problem.  With them off, you'll see that you miss, but have no idea where you're shooting...  Ghosth's idea of using the Lead Computing Gunsight works because it supplies the needed feedback which is missing w/o the tracers turned on.  If you felt there was a benefit to having them off, you could try learning this way.

Learning to shoot is just that, LEARNING.  How do you learn with no feedback showing you whether you're on the right track?  As a past shooting sports instructor I can say that a "students" target gives a lot of information that can be used to accelerate the learning process.  That's because we can see the misses (non bullseye hits) and form strategies to turn them into hits (bullseye's).  If I suspended a golf ball 20 feet off the ground and let my students shoot at that, it would be much more difficult to see patterns that lead to misses and to correct them.  Of course, if I let them use tracer rounds to shoot at that suspended ball I could say "Look!  See that?  You're shooting low, aim a bit higher!"

Tracer round ammo doesn't have the same ballistics as the "normal" rounds?  So what.  It still gives us a "ballpark" answer.  At least it's a "hint".  Even when we teach people to shoot skeet that "ballpark" answer is enough to go by.  Having an experienced shooter watch over your shoulder supplies feedback, or even watching the wad gives a basic answer even though its flight is obviously different than the shot column.  Seeing the wad fly consistantly behind the clay target gives a hint that you may need to increase your lead.

Without feedback of some sort we're left with the old standby- "Use the Force, Luke!"

[Soulyss]

I think it comes down to personal preference, I fall on the "tracers off" category.  I found that I was aiming with the tracers not the gun sight which was causing me to waste a lot of ammo.  I turned them off and my gunnery took a dive but after a few days it started to creep back up. 

Of course the first thing I ran into after I turned them off was a 262 that I had a great shot set up on and I blew the shot because I wasn't used to not seeing the tracer rounds.

I can also say that I hate running into an opponent who isn't using tracers, I like to be able to see when and where the bad guy is shooting during an engagement.

[spit16nooby]

Could someone tell me were you check your accuracy.

[Sloehand]

Don't see a great advantage to turning tracers off, even if you can hit equally as well than with them on.  Given that the most common situation where this is even an issue is when getting on a bandit's 6 o'clock.  Sure, once in awhile you'll surprise someone who didn't think you were shooting yet from their 6, but I figure most good pilots, once you get on their 6 aren't going to wait for you to fire anyway and will manuever constantly to spoil your guns solution, tracers or not.

Further, as someone mentioned, using a burst of tracers on some pilots gets them to do the darnedest things, which usually blows their E and sets you up for a deep 6 shot at some point.

And finally, tracers off just doesn't work for me because I'm an angles (think billiards) shooter.  I always double tap two bursts in a turn fight with deflection shots.  The first, really quick 1/4 sec burst gives me an angle visual between my rounds' trajectory and the bandit's flight path, then with an almost unconscious adjustment (if necssary) the a rapid second, longer burst is for the kill.

[SunBat]

to each there own

Shouldn't that be "their"?  Doesn't speak well for the AZ education system. 

[Saxman]

Tracers off. I love surprising my squaddies during training duels. 

One of the biggest drawbacks to tracers is that while YOU may know about where you're shooting, so does your opponent. I'll often use my opponent's tracers as a guide to know exactly where to position myself to stay out of his bullet stream. And using tracers to spook an opponent only works if he's real inexperienced or REAL fixated, as a good or wary opponent will have already picked up your position and range well before you squeeze the trigger.

[Ack-Ack]

Well, do you use them or not?  On the suggestion of a squad mate I tried turning them off today and my gunnery % dropped in half over 6 measly kills (compared to my ~11% over last tour).  Should I keep practicing with tracers until I really don't need them?  Or is this something that takes a whole tour to get used to?

thank you

Flying with tracers off will force you to learn how to lead with your gunsight rather than with your tracers.  It usually takes about a week or so to get used to having the tracers off. 


ack-ack

[Spazzter]

I fly with the tracers off.  When I started I flew with them on, but found that when they are turned off I am shooting to a spot rather than at the plane.  It takes some getting used to as a lot of people have said, but I like it better.  It is still a matter of preference though.

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Spazz